


A Change Of Face

by Honesty Kruse (yamamoto_kou)



Category: Gaia Online
Genre: Gen, Sandman's Bedtime Short Story Contest 2015, no one's actual name is used, so you'll have to guess who i'm referring to from the text
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 20:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4493868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yamamoto_kou/pseuds/Honesty%20Kruse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The guardian god of a village falls for a trick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Change Of Face

Back when Gaia was a savage place, when the whims of gods and mythical beings openly dictated the life and death of mortals, a guardian god stood watch over a small but prosperous village. Although he protected them well, the villagers took great pains to avoid looking at his face, for the marks painted upon it were so fearsome, that whole armies flee at the mere sight of them. However, the villagers aversion to that which kept them safe displeased the god. And so he made a decree:

"Henceforth, all those in my presence must gaze upon my visage, or feel my wrath!"

The villagers did as they were told. Whenever he appeared before them, they would see his face and cower where they stood. This greatly pleased him. A few terrified souls begged him to change it, but they were swiftly silenced by the swing of his glaive.

One day, the god was visited by two other gods. He bragged to them about how well he was carrying out his duties, and how he had finally gotten the villagers to show him the respect he deserved.

But then the god with long dark curls and a horn on his forehead said: "Wouldn't having to see it so often make them tire of it?"

The god with flowing golden locks and a confident grin happily concurred.

The guardian god was taken aback. He didn't want the villagers to stop fearing his face, for it meant that others will also come to disregard it, and more threats will come for the village.

Sensing his dismay, the two gods offered to give his face a new design that no one will grow weary of. The guardian god eagerly complied.

When the two gods had finished and said their goodbyes, the guardian god made haste to appear before the villagers, eager to see their expressions when they look upon his new face.

He was shocked when the villagers all started to laugh.

"What are you all laughing at?" the guardian god bellowed in confusion.

Before anyone could answer him, he caught sight of his reflection in a pot of water. The two gods had kept to their word: no one would ever get tired of seeing such a ridiculous face.

In his anger, he cursed the villagers so that their faces were to remain as they were, stuck in the throes of laughter as a lasting reminder of the utter disrespect they had shown their deity.

In the days to come, the villagers would lament over their mistake, learn that their own faces so terrified invaders that stories about their curse kept others away, and find peace despite living the rest of their days in solitude.

But on that day, the guardian god laid down his armour and his glaive, and left the village forever.

For a long time, he walked, and he pondered. Despite the anger and humiliation he had felt at seeing the villagers laughing, a part of him came to the realisation that true reverence had been absent from their hearts generations ago: their prayers had become demands, while rituals and offerings were only performed out of habit.

What they wanted wasn't a god, but a servant.

For their part in this realisation, the god allowed some of his anger at the two trickster gods to fade. But the question remained: what was an ex-guardian god to do from then on?

The god's aimless wanderings brought him to a deep forest. Just as he was about to remove the offending scribbles from his face, a chorus of laughter suddenly erupted from behind some bushes.

The god of the deep forest, his minions, and one of the protectors of life made their presence known to him. It was the latter who spoke first.

"What the !@#% did you do to your face?"

And so after wiping his face clean to stop everyone from laughing, the god told them his story. From then on it became one of the many tales told about the mischief of the two pranking gods.

After that, the god traversed Gaia and beyond in search of a new purpose. Over the years, he came to know more about the world as well as himself, yet a new duty with which to devote himself remained elusive. After all, there were already many gods who all have their tasks to do.

Weary of his long search, he went to a place where those down on their luck tend to end up: a certain floating city with a particularly bad reputation.

It was there that he was accosted by a beaten up youngster who had been begging anyone he could find for help to save his sister from a gang.

The god was intrigued. It had been such a long time since anything was asked of him... But before he could say a word, a voice from behind him interjected.

"Hey, kid. Mind if I have a chat with him first?"

Without waiting for an answer, the god felt himself being dragged off some ways away where the youngster wouldn't hear them. Sure enough, the one who did the dragging was none other than the god who resided in the city.

The god explained that he's aware of the ex-guardian's predicament, but was mainly concerned with how the ex-guardian had been planning on helping the boy.

"I was a guardian. I will face the gang in the boy's stead."

The god of the floating city shook his head at that and told the ex-guardian that it seemed that he had hardly learned anything at all. Before leaving, the god of the city left the ex-guardian some parting words about how he should remember what drove him from the village in the first place, and that he should try not to cause too much trouble.

After giving those words more thought, the god realised that defending the village all by himself for so long had made the villagers forget what it meant to fear an invasion, and thus forget the importance of what was done for them. There was more to helping mortals than simply doing everything for them, and it was an epiphany that came too late.

And so the god settled for painting the design he used to be so proud of onto the boy's face. With it, the boy singlehandedly drove the gang members into a frenzy through irrational fear and suceeded in saving his sister.

Despite not finding his purpose, the ex-guardian admitted to himself that it felt good to be needed again. It was a feeling he held onto as he left the floating city behind to continue his journey.

**Author's Note:**

> It wasn't a winning entry, but I tried.
> 
> [Link to the actual entry](http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/contest-archive/sandman-s-bedtime-short-story-contest/t.96774745_118/#118).


End file.
